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Where Fundraising Falls Apart
Fundraising should move fast. But too often, it doesn’t.
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Founders walk in with ambition, but only a story to tell.
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Investors and Lenders waste weeks chasing substance through patchy decks and over-polished promises.
At its core, the gap comes down to four questions:
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Who’s your customer?
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What pain do they have?
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How do you reach them?
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How do you convert — and keep — them?
Without answers backed by evidence, fundraising drags — and trust erodes.
We help close that gap by turning early signals into traction funders can believe in.
The HOUP Way Through
We’re not an agency. We’re not a deck shop. HOUP is a fractional, embedded growth team — senior operators who plug in as part of your crew.
We work inside your stack, in your Slack, accountable for outcomes.
What makes us different:
commercial first
We focus on customers, not slideware.
Market
Proof
Validation through conversations, test campaigns, and early sales — not desk research.
Strategy + Execution
We assess, set the plan, align interests — and stay on to deliver if needed.
Embedded & Fractional
Scale up or down as needed, with skin in the game.
You’ve built something real. You’re carving a path through rough ground.We walk the trail with you — turning traction into growth that stands up under scrutiny.
The Work that Gets you There
Funding isn’t won with theory. It’s earned through proof. That’s why our process doesn’t stop at decks or diagnostics. We roll up our sleeves to test, model, and execute—so you’ve got evidence funders can trust and momentum you can actually build on.
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Assess the Opportunity
For founders: a pre-fundraise diagnostic to surface risks and fundable strengths.
For funders: a Here Report across your pipeline — comparable, commercial insights to spot winners early.
⚒️
Validate the Market
Real-world validation: customer interviews, test campaigns, early sales.
Proof that traction isn’t just a story, but a signal.
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Build the Model
Clarify, stress-test, and package the business model.
From Business Model Canvas workshops to pitch-ready collateral.
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Show the Numbers
Credible, flexible models that give funders assurance and founders day-to-day decision support.
Where debt is in play, we build lender-ready packages tailored to the 5 Cs of credit to accelerate the process.
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Execute the Plan
We don’t just hand you a deck. We can plug in as your fractional growth team — running campaigns, refining sales motions, and helping you hit the milestones your funders expect.
The Payoff
Trail Markers:
The Challenge:
Babbasa, a Bristol-based social enterprise, wanted to move from grant dependency to a sustainable commercial model — without losing its mission.
What We Did:
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Ran a structured business model review using our Impact-Centred BMC.
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Built a five-year financial forecast with scenario planning.
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Identified revenue drivers, bottlenecks, and risks.
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Clarified their dual delivery model (Youth Empowerment + People & Talent) and aligned each to long-term sustainability.
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Designed a phased growth strategy with reserve targets, flexible delivery, and governance improvements.
Our Impact:
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Positioned Babbasa to scale its employer services and reduce grant reliance.
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Created a repeatable, funder-ready model grounded in financial discipline.
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Enabled growth with integrity: commercial strength without losing community roots.
For Founders:
Evidence
Over Hype
We’ll help you:
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Prove your market. Not with reports, but with live tests, conversations, and early sales.
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Tell the right story. Translate hard-won traction into a clear, funder-ready narrative.
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Use your numbers. Build financial models that are credible — and usable day to day.
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Be funder-ready. Whether it’s equity or debt, show up prepared with evidence, not guesswork.
For Funders:
Before and
Beyond the Deal
You pick the horses. We help them run.
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Pipeline Confidence: Our assessments give you sharper tools to make better investment decisions.
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Portfolio Support: We can stay on to help your investees hit projections, unlock growth milestones, and avoid the common stalls in the traction gap.
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Aligned Expectations: A shared lens between investors and founders — strategy, execution, and numbers under one roof.
Cut a Path Through the Wilderness
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Quick Intake → map traction, model, and numbers.
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Diagnostic → Here Report + insights.
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Validation & Build-Out → customer proof, models, messaging, collateral.
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Handover (or Execution) → usable, funder-ready assets — with the option for us to stay on and deliver.
